Who determines the rules of craft? How are these rules exclusionary? Elitist? Reflective of a dominant lens?
Musing the Margins examines the influence of culture and identity on the craft of fiction. These essays delve into race, ethnicity, class, queerness, neurodivergence, disability, and chronic illness. The anthology challenges fiction writers to read and teach beyond familiar views, approaches, and voices. What questions should writers be asking themselves? How do writers acknowledge their privilege in their work? How can writers do their due diligence in order to create the least possible harm with their art? How do marginalized identity and craft interact, complicate one another, and create new possibilities for the future of fiction? Musing the Margins serves as a space to consider craft discourse from traditionally marginalized angles. In their innovative and thoughtful essays, these writers provide perspectives that enrich and expand the ways in which we might think about fiction. |
Advance Praise for Musing the Margins
“Social justice expands far beyond protestors and voting booths—our writing must absorb it, too. Musing the Margins emphasizes just that, aiming to educate writers on the increasing necessity for fiction to reflect reality as it attends to race, gender, dis/ability, mental health, and more. Each essay uncovers a new conversation on crafting fiction, its revision, and our collective responsibility toward representation and empathy. Yes, diversity matters—but there’s performance and then there’s doing the work. Carroll and her contributors don’t ask that the cannon make space for historically marginalized identities; they demand we incinerate the cannon, examine our prejudices and their capacity for harm, and write—do—better. Here’s what we can all do first: read this book.”
— Monica Prince, Susquehanna University Assistant Professor of Activist and Performance Writing
Author of How to Exterminate the Black Woman and Instructions for Temporary Survival
— Monica Prince, Susquehanna University Assistant Professor of Activist and Performance Writing
Author of How to Exterminate the Black Woman and Instructions for Temporary Survival
“Musing the Margins isn’t just a stunning new arrival to the canon of creative writing craft books; it’s a crucial, long overdue addition to the field. The volume brings together an impressive array of marginalized voices—from writers of color, to writers with disabilities, to Native American writers, to LGBTQ+ writers—all of whom don’t merely speak out about the pressing issues of false representation and cultural appropriation but who offer specific craft advice to creative writers on how to avoid falling into these tired old traps. It’s not a book about condemnation but about listening to informed authors, understanding familiar problems, and, as a result, working better as a writer. This is the craft book that the 21st century has been begging for. It’s an instant classic and will be a touchstone for generations to come.”
— John Vanderslice, University of Central Arkansas
Author of The Last Days of Oscar Wilde and Island Fog
— John Vanderslice, University of Central Arkansas
Author of The Last Days of Oscar Wilde and Island Fog
“Essential reading for any creative writing course and any writer, this collection provides the means for reflection and understanding. It names what we need to name at the workshop table and at the page. It breaks through enforced silences. There is much to discuss in these pages and much to account for as this book informs our practice.”
— Janelle Adsit, Humboldt State University
Author of Toward an Inclusive Creative Writing: Threshold Concepts to Guide the Literary Writing Curriculum
and co-author of Writing Intersectional Identities: Keywords for Creative Writers
— Janelle Adsit, Humboldt State University
Author of Toward an Inclusive Creative Writing: Threshold Concepts to Guide the Literary Writing Curriculum
and co-author of Writing Intersectional Identities: Keywords for Creative Writers
“Crisp, timely, and accessible. This book is a firm tug on the red thread to lead us out of the maze.”
— Sam Simas, Bryant University Winner of Copper Nickel’s Editor Prize for Prose
— Sam Simas, Bryant University Winner of Copper Nickel’s Editor Prize for Prose